On a cold Sunday morning Selby took the very short trip to Goole. Selby arrived with 19 players while Goole had a 14 strong squad. The Selby team again had to contend with facing an opposition that were twice the size of themselves.

Game 1
From the start both sides showed that this was not going to be an easy match. Both sides played well and Goole had their first attempted disallowed for placing the ball in the dead ball area. From the restart Selby tried to push through Goole’s defence and with great rucking by Michael Prosser and Harvey Catling. Thomas Gable nearly opened the scoring from a run down the wing but was caught and pushed into touch near the try line. The big Goole team continued to try and drive the ball through Selby which often took 3 Selby players to bring them down. On the last play Goole opened the scoring by driving the ball forward and though our defence.
Half time Goole 1 – Selby 0.
With a second half starting like the first, Goole scored a second try by driving the ball over the try line. Selby pushed Goole back and from a penalty to Selby near the try line Melissa Howden passed it to Thomas Gable to score Selby’s first try. There was a string of passes from the line out passing to Connor Carberry, James Simpson, Sam Llewellyn and Melissa Howden showing great skills but was tackled before advancing to far down the pitch. Goole scored a third try in the last play after some hard rucking and pushing back by both teams.
Final Score Goole 3 - Selby 1

Game 2
With Selby’s other players now facing a few changed faces of the Goole team the game began with Tom Scholefield making a fantastic tackle preventing Goole running down the pitch to score. This followed with Selby making some good passes between James Bamford, Tom Scholefield and Ben Hudson before being tackled and losing the ball in the ruck. With some hard tackling and rucking by Alfie Bugg, Matthew Young, Eddie Liddle and Jack Rioden both sides went into half time not able to break the deadlock.
Half time Goole 0 – Selby 0
Goole had the restart after half time and tried to steamroll through by using their size but we pushed them back in numbers. Ben Hudson had a good run down the wing but was tackled just short of the try line. Both sides continued to ruck hard but neither could break the deadlock and the match was drawn.
Final Score Goole 0 - Selby 0

Game 3
With the Selby players swapped and split one to play the first half and the other to play the second half.
Selby started by making a good drive forward with Thomas Gabel only to lose the ball after the tackle. The Goole team rucked well and advanced slowly down the pitch. The first try was scored by Goole like most of their tries by driving the ball over the try line. Selby did some good rucking but Goole further advanced the score from down the wing when Selby failed make a tackle. Selby didn’t give up and the game continued with good rucking in Goole’s half. Goole scored a 3rd try after a lineout to Goole that again they drove over the try line in the last play of the half.
Half time Goole 3 – Selby 0.
With Selby players swapped the second half started tight and the only try of this half was scored by Selby from a run past the Goole team by Ben Hudson. The game continued to be tight and Matthew Francis stole the ball and past it to Tom Scholefield who tried to run down the wing but was pushed into touch. From a Selby scrum the ball was past to Ben Hudson who ran ½ the pitch but was tackled with a ¼ of the pitch to go. Selby fought well in the second half prevent Goole any advancement in their scoring.
Final Score Goole 3 - Selby 1

Although Selby lost 2 games and drew one game the result could have gone either way, all the games were tightly fought. This was one day when hard rucking was the order of the day unfortunately the opposition won the contest through them driving the ball forward and relying on their bulk. Selby can take a lot from this and next time will be ready to deal with a team of bulk. Selby did extremely well facing such large opponents and should be proud of themselves. Well done to all the boys and girl who played today you all kept your heads up.